By Carl Surran
Winner Awaits 'Ultimate Welcome Home'
Winter 2006-07
We heard from soldiers and sailors and spouses. We heard from Guardsmen and contractors taking fire in Iraq. We heard from devoted husbands and wives, proud moms and dads, admiring teenage sons and adoring elementary-school daughters.
We heard from heroes. But we heard mostly from hundreds of everyday people heroically managing their everyday lives while a special family member serves far from home – and why they believe their loved ones deserve the Military Money “Ultimate Welcome Home” prize package.
All military families who sacrifice so many of the comforts of civilian life deserve wonderful homecomings. But we can select only one Ultimate Welcome Home winner.
EMC (SW/AW) Daniel Martinez and his wife Stephanie have spent much of their marriage apart while he has been away at sea. When Dan left in May for his latest deployment, the couple was excited to be expecting their first child together. Stephanie sent Dan pictures of sonograms and recordings of the baby’s heartbeat. But three months into the pregnancy, the baby died.
“He could not come home to be with me during the loss of our child,” Stephanie explained. “We have had to endure this on different sides of the planet. It has been very difficult.”
Military Money hopes that the Ultimate Welcome Home can bring at least a measure of healing and relaxation to Stephanie and Daniel.
Here’s a complete list of prizes:
Two round-trip airline tickets from Orbitz, valued up to $500 per ticket (www.orbitz.com)
Two certificates each good for eight days and seven nights of resort lodging via Armed Forces Vacation Club (www.afvclub.com)
Two $100 American Airlines gift cards, courtesy of MilitarybyOwner.com (www.militarybyowner.com)
A “Resort Accommodation Certificate” for a week’s stay at an available Orlando resort, courtesy of Government & Armed Forces Travel Cooperative (www.govarm.com)
Free membership and a $250 deposit account at Global Credit Union (www.globalcu.org)
Two $100 American Express gift checks, courtesy of Geico (www.geico.com)
A $250 Home Depot gift card, courtesy of Commercial Credit Counseling Services (www.corporateturnaround.com)
Two child ID kits from My Precious Kid (www.mypreciouskid.com)
One-year membership to National Military Family Association (NMFA) and a $50 gift card to Crate and Barrel, courtesy of NMFA (www.nmfa.org)
A $50 Target Stores gift certificate, courtesy of Army Wife Talk Radio (www.armywifetalkradio.com)
Custom publishing credit for one full-color hardbound book ($49.95 value), courtesy of Heritage Makers (www.iloveyourstories.com)
A $50 gift certificate redeemable at any business advertising at Work At Home Promotion (www.wahpromotion.com)
One $100 American Express gift card, one XL flag t-shirt, one XL “Support Our Troops” t-shirt and one gift bag, courtesy of Pentagon Federal Credit Union (www.penfed.org)
Thanks so much to everyone who shared their stories with us. Some of the stories were happy, some were sad. Some were emotional, some were stoic – but all were real stories from real people who wait for the day their families are together again.
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